Human Identity and Identification

Few things are as interesting to us as our own bodies and, by extension, our own identities. In recent years, there has been a growing interest in the relationship between the body, environment and society. Reflecting upon these developments, this book examines the role of the body in human identification, in the forging of identities, and the ways in which it embodies our social worlds. The approach is integrative, taking a uniquely biological perspective and reflecting on current discourse in the social sciences. With particular reference to bioarchaeology and forensic science, the authors focus on the construction and categorisation of the body within scientific and popular discourse, examining its many tissues, from the outermost to the innermost, from the skin to DNA. Synthesising two, traditionally disparate, strands of research, this is a valuable contribution to research on human identification and the embodiment of identity.

Politics & Social Sciences

Thompson, Tim

Gowland, Rebecca

Anthropology

Cambridge University Press

Few things are as interesting to us as our own bodies and, by extension, our own identities. In recent years, there has been a growing interest in the relationship between the body, environment and society. Reflecting upon these developments, this book examines the role of the body in human identification, in the forging of identities, and the ways in which it embodies our social worlds. The approach is integrative, taking a uniquely biological perspective and reflecting on current discourse in the social sciences. With particular reference to bioarchaeology and forensic science, the authors focus on the construction and categorisation of the body within scientific and popular discourse, examining its many tissues, from the outermost to the innermost, from the skin to DNA. Synthesising two, traditionally disparate, strands of research, this is a valuable contribution to research on human identification and the embodiment of identity.

Human bones form the most direct link to understanding how people lived in the past, who they were and where they came from. The interpretative value of human skeletal remains (within their burial context) in terms of past social identity and organization is awesome, but was, for many years, under-exploited by archaeologists. The nineteen papers in this edited volume are an attempt to redress this by marrying the cultural aspects of burial with the anthropology of the deceased. Table of Contents Introduction (Rebecca Gowland and Christopher Knüsel) The intrinsic pattern of preservation of human skeletons and its influence on the interpretation of funerary behaviours (Silvia Bello and Peter Andrews) Pattern in human burial practice (Peter Andrews and Silvia Bello) L'archaeothanatologie ou l'archaeologie de la mort (Henri Duday) Neolithic burial taphonomy, ritual, and interpretation in Britain and Ireland: a review (Jessica Beckett and John Robb) Cremation ... the cheap option? (Jacqueline I McKinley) Companions in death: the roles of animals in Anglo-Saxon and Viking cremation rituals in Britain (Julie M Bond and Fay L Worley) La Tène dietary variation in Central Europe: A stable isotope study of human skeletal remains from Bohemia (John Le Huray, Holger Schutkowski, Mike Richards) Immigrants on the Isle of Lewis - combining traditional funerary and modern isotope evidence to investigate social differentiation, migration and dietary change in the Outer Hebrides of Scotland (Janet Montgomery and Jane A Evans) Ageing the past: examining age identity from funerary evidence (Rebecca Gowland) Gender, bioarchaeology and human ontogeny (Joanna R Sofaer) The gendered skeleton: anthropological interpretations of the bony pelvis (Pamela K Stone and Dana Walrath) The osteology of monasticism in Mediaeval England (Simon Mays) Text, space and the evidence of human remains in English Late Medieval and Tudor disease culture: some problems and possibilities (Isla Fay) 'Of no more use to men than in ages before?': the Investiture Contest as a model for funerary interpretation (Christopher J Knüsel) Skeletal evidence and contexts of violence in the European Mesolithic and Neolithic (Rick Schulting) Beneath the façade: A skeletal model of domestic violence (Shannon Novak) Fragmentation of the body: comestibles, compost, or customary rite? (Christopher J Knüsel and Alan Outram) Altering identities: body modifications and the pre-Columbian Maya (Pamela L Geller) The living dead and the dead living: burials, figurines and social performance in the European Mid Upper Palaeolithic (Paul B Pettitt)

The Social Archaeology of Funerary Remains (Studies in Funerary Archaeology)

Knusel, Christopher

Oxbow Books

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Books by Gowland, Rebecca

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Gowland, Rebecca. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Human Identity and Identification

Human Identity and Identification

Human Identity and Identification

The Social Archaeology of Funerary Remains (Studies in Funerary Archaeology)